Call to put student housing in Cork City on hold to stop ‘ethnic cleansing’ of communities

There have been calls for a halt on the development of student accommodation in residential areas of Cork City until a coherent planning policy on such projects is adopted.

Cllr John Buttimer (FG), who said allowing large-scale student housing in certain residential areas was like “ethnic cleansing” and was “choking and suffocating traditional residential communities”, said a temporary ban on planning decisions on these schemes is vital to prevent a “developer-led free-for-all”.

He made the call in the wake of a material contravention of the city development plan on Monday which gave the green light to a 348-bed student complex near CIT in the western suburbs.